


identical words (against different time frames)

by PeachyKeener



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: And He Gets One!, Author is bad at summaries, Bonding, Cigarettes, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Hurt Harley Keener, Hurt Peter Parker, M/M, May Parker once was Punk, May loves her boys, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Harley Keener, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man), Two people bonding over someone they love who /wont/ let them help, and wont lose her like she lost her husband, but wont let himself have one, fight me, fighters who love with everything theyve got, harley keener DOES NOT smoke and he is a straight laced dude, i want a series of May taking in kids who are like Peter, its short and its sweet, may loves her nephew, she loves how harley loves peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28097517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachyKeener/pseuds/PeachyKeener
Summary: “Because he doesn’t think he deserves to be helped, Harley.” May’s voice was tight, and through his own tears he could see her eyes were just as wet. “And it's our job to show him that he does.”“I- but he won’t listen.”“Then we have to make him.”(May Parker comforts the boy who loves the kid she raised and loves with every part of her being. Harley Keener finds comfort in the only other person in the world who knows the hurt of loving a Parker.)
Relationships: Harley Keener & May Parker (Spider-Man), Harley Keener/Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker
Comments: 8
Kudos: 99





	identical words (against different time frames)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angxlsgrxce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angxlsgrxce/gifts).



> this is very short and sweet but i love May and Harley bonding because they both love Peter so much even if their types of love is inherently different. Like. May raised this bou that Harley loves and Harley loves this boy because May raised him so well. Plus the dynamic of May taking in kids who remind her of the kid she raised... good shit. good shit. 
> 
> Anyway, its short and sweet (and i knew it complete, when i wore a younger mans clothes) 
> 
> Thanks to ava, angxlsgrxce on tumblr, for betaing this on me!!

His fingers felt numb around his cigarette. It was his own fault anyway- he was the one leaning against cold brick on a snowy night in just a t-shirt and jeans. Usually, he’d like to think he knew better than to stand still in the cold. In the back of his mind, his sister whispered to him that going to sleep in the snow was a death sentence. Abbie had always loved history and hated his bad ideas. 

It would be easier if he had a light, but all he had was a frozen and trembling hand, and a cigarette he didn’t know how to light. 

“I didn’t know you smoked.” May spoke lightly, her breath puffing out white against the darkness of the alley behind the Parker’s apartment. He didn’t turn to her, but he felt her settle against the wall next to him. “It doesn’t seem like a very Harley Keener thing to do. You’re very…straight-laced.”    
  
“I don’t-” He swallowed, turning the cigarette. “I don’t really smoke. I don’t even have a light. But uh- my mom smoked, on bad nights at the dinner. She’d go outside in freezing rain and keep it lit just to breathe.”    
  
“That doesn’t sound like Macy either.”    
  
“It’s not like her anymore, really. Cause New York, um, New York helped I guess.”    
  
“I get that.” May shuffled, and brought out a cigarette lighter from her pocket, taking it from his hands gently. “Don’t start. It’s a terrible habit.”    
  
Harley finally turned to the older woman as she lit it, breathing the smoke in and out like it was an old habit. She didn’t seem like a smoker either, but he’d seen photos on the walls of their apartment of May and Ben in highschool- _ a goth girl and a jock walked into a bar,  _ Peter murmured in his memories, pointing at the photos,  _ at least that’s the joke Ben used to make-  _ and knew that she was. Or at least used to be. 

His fingers were still numb. 

“Thank you for trying.” May breathed out, white smoke and white breath mingling. “It means a lot that… you know…”    
  
Now he felt numb. “Don’t thank me for trying to be there for my boyfriend, May.”    
  
“A lot of kids weren’t there for him, Harley,” she replied back coolly. “So the fact that you are is good. He doesn’t know a lot of boys like him, so you being, y’know, you, helps.”    
  
“I’m not like him.” 

“No one is.”    
  
The world felt colder, and he took the cigarette out of her fingers. She didn’t protest, but he couldn’t seem to put the thing to his mouth and inhale. Memories of his dad’s white breath and fists and alcohol flooded his mind and he passed it back to May. “I just can’t- I can’t do it.”    
  
“Smoke or…?”    
  
“Both.” He frowned and shook his head. “No, I can’t- I can’t keep watching him throw himself into danger and away like that. He- He doesn’t care to take care of himself, and I wish I could take care of him.” 

They stood in silence for a minute, and when tears so hot they burned blurred his vision he could pretend his white breath was the smoke instead of just barely warm air. Maybe if he’d been a better lover, been a better man, been a better fighter, been a better-  _ something, anything-  _ then Peter would let him help. But no- instead he’d rushed into a fight without him and now he was laying in his bed at the apartment pulling through the night. He’d be fine thanks to the super healing, but Harley wasn’t sure he’d ever get that image of the man he loved covered in blood out of his head. 

“He hasn’t let anyone take care of him since he was fourteen,” May whispered quietly. “Ben died, and Peter wouldn’t let anyone take care of him. I tried. I tried to bring him out of his shell and help him breathe, but he wouldn’t let me. By the time the wound of Ben’s death started healing- everyone around him was trying to take care of him. I was. Tony had come into our lives to help, same with Harold, and Pepper, and all of his friends. We all wanted to take care of him.”    
  
“Then why didn’t he  _ let  _ y’all?” Pressing his cold hands to his eyes, it felt like ice meating hot water. “Why doesn’t he let anyone take care of him?” 

The older woman pressed a soft hand to his arm, pulling away his arms from his face. She hadn’t been outside long enough for the cold that had taken over him to seep in yet, so her touch was searing. Comforting. It reminded him of his mom. Pausing for a moment, she murmured after a second, “Because all his life he’s wanted to save people and take care of people and he doesn’t think he deserves the same.”    
  
“But he  _ does  _ deserve to be taken care of, May-” He met her eyes, and recognized the desperation in them, the same as his own. They were the same. They were the same, and they both wanted to take care of Peter as much as he wanted to take care of them. “Why won’t he let us help him?”    


“Because he doesn’t think he deserves to be helped, Harley.” May’s voice was tight, and through his own tears he could see her eyes were just as wet. “And it's our job to show him that he does.” 

“I- but he won’t  _ listen.”  _

“Then we have to make him.” 

“How?” His voice was raw. Desperate. “How?” 

She paused, and looked away from him long enough to take a drag. The white puff of air was accented by the smoke once more. In and out. Smoke and breath tangled together. Peter would’ve taken a picture. She squeezed his arm. “I don’t know. Ben would’ve known.”    
  
“He’s not here. But we- we have Peter now.”    
  
“You’re right.” Putting the cigarette out against a brick, she tugged him into a hug- something familiar and warm and it was obvious to him who Peter learned to hug from. “We have him now so- so we have to figure out how to make him know he’s worthy of being cared about.”    
  
Harley nodded slowly, pressing his face into her shoulder and ignoring how his tears started to soak the coat she was wearing. “I love him, May. I love him.”    
  


“I know, Harley,” she whispered, “I know. He does too.”    
  
Slowly, they pulled away from each other, and in the back of his mind he thought about how one day, in the future, this woman would be his in-law. It was a nice idea. She gave him a weak smile. “Come inside. It’s cold.”    
  
“I need-” He swallowed, looking out at his breath. White like smoke. “I need another minute.”    
  
She seemed to understand, and not for the first time, a sad look crossed over her face. It made her small. May was young, but sometimes, she looked so old under the sadness of her life. “I understand.”    
  
The unspoken meaning of what it took out of you to love a Parker passed between them and she turned back into the warmth of the building. 

He breathed out. 

His breath still looked like cigarette smoke. 

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway,, hope yall lik this,,, i love it a lot 
> 
> leave a comment down below or hit me up on w w w . tumbler. com at peachy-keener if you want!


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